Sleep is essential for our health

A good night's sleep is essential for your balance. It has many benefits: it boosts the immune system, acts on the nervous system and memory, protects the heart and allows you to recharge your batteries.

Benefits of restful sleep 

For Dr. Rey, " the sleep has an essential role on our health".This neurologist, a sleep specialist and President of the National Sleep and Vigilance Institute, states that Sleeping well obviously recharges the batteries after a day, but it also helps to stimulate the nervous system, boost memory, strengthen the immune system, improve cardiovascular health, increase alertness and regulate the metabolism, and thus avoid overweightDiabetes or obesity". On the other hand, a lack of sleep increases drowsiness and decreases attention span, intensifies muscular pains and aches, multiplies the risk of injury, alters physical and moral recovery, increases irritability, the risk of overweight, obesity and diabetes... 

What are the most restorative sleep phases?

During the night, there are different sleep phases:

• The falling asleep phase which constitutes 5 to 10% of the total sleep time. This is the transition period between the waking state and the sleeping state. 

• The light slow wave sleep phase, which makes up almost half of the sleep time. It is characterised by a slowing down of brain activity.

• The phase of deep slow wave sleep which makes up 10 to 20% of sleep time. During this phase, brain activity is very slow and the sleeper plunges into a state where his brain is increasingly insensitive to external stimuli. It is this sleep that is most restorative for the body. Conversely, the absence of deep sleep makes the next day more difficult.

• The REM sleep phase (it is said to be "REM" because the person shows signs of very deep sleep and signs of wakefulness at the same time) which constitutes 20% of the sleep time. It occurs cyclically throughout the night but is at its peak at the end of the night when the body starts to wake up. 

Quality of sleep is better than quantity.Ideal sleep duration: how long to sleep?

According to a study conducted in 2020 by the Institut national de Sommeil et de la Vigilance and MGEN, 25% of French people consider that the quality of their sleep is not good and admit to being sleepy during the day. However, quality of sleep is preferable to quantity. It is therefore not because we sleep a lot that we have a restful sleep. The ideal sleep time is very individual and varies from one person to another, depending on age, work, level of physical activity, etc. However, the American organization, National Sleep Foundation In 2017, a scientific committee validated the ideal sleep times according to age. This gives good benchmarks for the amount of sleep you need according to your age, but these are only averages. Some people need more to be fit, others less.

The atmosphere of the bedroom and the quality of the sheets have a direct impact on the quality of sleep. At Comptoir du Bambou, our bamboo satin bed sheets are designed to provide the best possible support for your nights. They have all the necessary characteristics to respect your sleep cycles: breathable, soft and silky, absorbent, enveloping, natural and durable. 

Source : https://sante.journaldesfemmes.fr